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John Ingram (1806-1841)
}} John Ingram arrived in New South Wales as a convict aboard the "Maitland" on 14 July 1840 after being sentenced to 7 years transportation for "drilling the mob". In other words John was a political prisioner who had been involved in the Chartist movement. He was described at his trial as a labourer and soldier. John's army records show that he was born in 1806 at Llandinan. He was baptised on 20 July 1806 at Llandian as the son of John and Susan Ingram. John Ingram had been arrested, tried, and sentenced to transportation for training men in military exercises. His activities in April 1839 were connected to the build up of what has become known as the "Newport Rebellion" of 4 November 1839. The "Newport Rebellion" was a march of anout 5,000 workers on Newtown which was partly a demonstration and partly an attempt at revolution. The march on Newport resulted in at least a score of deaths around the town's Westgate Hotel, and the transportation of its leaders. The town of Newtown, the largest town in Mid-Wales, had earlier hosted the first Chartist meeting in Wales in 1838 with its workers demanding improved conditions and civic rights; not an unreasonable demand for those working in the declining woollen trade who were paid in tokens that they could only spend in the manufacturer’s shop. Chartists were advocates of universal male suffrage. The Chartist movement had started in London in 1838 with the publication of the 'People's Charter'. :The Charter demanded the reform of parliament. At that time very few people were qualified to vote - around one in twenty of the population of England and Wales; voting was done in public and votes were often bought. Chartists demanded votes for all men over the age of 21 (some wanted votes for women, but it was felt that this would make the movement a laughing stock) and annual elections to ensure that MPs were instantly answerable to their constituents. They also wanted the boundaries of parliamentary constituencies redrawn so that each seat would have an equal population. To allow anyone, whatever their background, to become an MP, they demanded the end of the law which said that an MP had to have a large amount of land and MPs were to be paid. Secret voting was asked for to ensure that people could not be victimised for voting for their favoured candidate, and to prevent votes being bought. The Chartists wanted a sudden change which amounted to a political revolution. :The Chartists tried to demonstrate the strength of support for the movement by holding massive outdoor meetings where speeches in support of the cause were given and by collecting signatures on petitions. The first petition was presented to parliament in July 1839 but rejected without discussion. The Chartists quarrelled about what to do next with some advocating a general strike to try to bring down the government and others arguing that an armed rising was the only response which would work. :(BBC website - Neil Evans, Wales History, Chartism in Wales) John's crime was that at 9 o'cock in the evening of 30 April 1839 he, together with 9 others, had been training and drilling about 600 other persons in the use of arms and drilling them in the practice of military exercise. John Ingram pleaded guilty. The about 600 men had been observed to have two fifers playing the tune "Rory O'More", and the about 600 men were being given orders and being called to "attention". There were 2 companies of men, but none of them had arms. John Ingram and many of the others were then found guilty of training without the use of arms. The unrest in the town at the time was further evidenced in that 3 man were also charged with suspicion of creating a riot as a result of a mob pelting and hooting at the Montgomeryshire Yeoman Cavalry as they left town after having being ordered on duty in Newtown on 4 May 1839. All the men charged were refered to as Chartists. John's records for his transportation show that he was 36 (he was 33), single, Protestant, that he could read, that he was from Montgomeryshire, had been sentenced at the Montgomery Assizes on 13 July 1839, and had left England on 19 March 1840 aboard the "Neptune". He was a labourer and soldier with no prior convictions. He was 5' 5 3/4" tall, with a sallow and freckled complexion, dark brown hair, and hazel eyes. His eyebrows met he had a small scar near his left cheek, and a scar under the left side of his chin. His nose inclined a little to the left, he had three small moles on the right side of his neck, a large scar on the back of his left hand, and the nail if the middle finger of his left hand was disfigured. He also had a scar on the palm of his right hand. He died in New South Wales in 1841.